Centre of Surface and Air Transport

(Pic Source: Getty Images) On the National Maritime Day (5th April), every year the industry champions share their experiences, achievements and forthcoming challenges. However, Black Swan events like the present pandemic brought about by Novel Covid-19 have caught everyone by complete surprise and thrown unprecedented challenges in a very short time span. This brief paper attempts to highlight likely significant impacts of Covid-19 on Maritime Industry not only in terms of structural changes by also a paradigm shift in business practices. Keep ships moving, ports open and cross border trade flowing All across the world, industries have made representations to the governments to keep maritime trade moving by allowing commercial ships continued access to ports worldwide and by facilitating the rapid changeover of ships’ crews. Commercial ships not only move the world’s food, energy, raw materials, manufactured goods and components but also vital medical supplies. Proponent

The Covid-19 pandemic struck suddenly in December 2019 in Wuhan, China & has spread randomly with great ferocity and devastation. Across the globe, 210 Countries and Territories have reported over 2 million confirmed cases & a death toll of over 135000 as on 15 April 2020. A million of those positive cases & 60% of deaths have shown up in the last 13 days alone. India, the second most populous country in the world, detected its first Covid-19 patient in January and is currently going through a surge in infection cases with over of more than 13000 positive cases with about 425 deaths recorded so far amidst an extended national lock-down. The desperation is overriding considerations of safety , leading to breaking down of social distancing as seen often at market places, transit points, local stores etc.  By every assessment, the economic & social impacts are unprecedented in magnitude and global scope. It remains to be seen how the governments an

The Centre for Surface and Air Transport (CSAT) is a Centre for Excellence at the decade old Adani Institute of Infrastructure (AII). The AII is a research & education initiative of the US$ 13 Bn Multinational Adani Group in India.  AII's vision is to "be a leading global academic institution in the infrastructure sector contributing to nation building".  The CSAT on its part, will endeavour to strengthen the surface and air transport business ecosystems by organising and supporting research, studies, projects, events thereby creating and disseminating research and practice based knowledge to deal with continuing challenges in the surface and air transport industry. CSAT has embarked upon an ambitious roadmap that includes organising conclaves, conferences, seminars, workshops, deep discussion forums; expert talks, webcasts, research & publications and project consulting in sectors covering shipping, ports, inland water transport, road/rail transport, air